"There is nothing worse than death, Dumbledore!" - Lord Voldemort.

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.

The Secret Amor

By Odessa

Chapter 1

The Dark Mark That Appeared

A young girl walked down the street. Despite the late hour, she needed to think about some things; she just had so much on her mind. She had just finished her 5th year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry and was in disbelief that in just two more years she would graduate. She started to worried about her friend, Severus. They had been friends ever since she moved across the street from him and it was he who told her about the wizarding world. Yet, recently he had started hanging out with some unpleasant people. It frightened her that he was getting into the dark arts. But what could she say to him? They had been friends forever; was it finally time for them to just realize that they were different?

Lily looked above at a Dark Mark fixed in the sky and she tensed up. Lily decided she better hurry home fast. Down the street, she noticed a crowd of people outside her house. 'What's going on?' she thought to herself. As she got closer she could see it was the Wizarding police standing beside her house which was destroyed. Her heart stopped. She ran over to a middle-aged man.

"What's going on?! Where are my parents?!" she screamed.

The man gave her a sad look… "Are you Lily?"

"Yes….Please, where is my family?" Lily said quietly, breaking into tears. She dropped to the ground unable to think because she was so scared.

The man knelt down beside her. "Something bad has happened."

"No…no," she said, hitting the ground and shaking her head. The man put an arm around her.

"Voldemort has attacked and killed your parents. We are …." But Lily didn't want to hear it.

"NOO!.....Please!" she said, trying to stand up and run toward what was left of her house. The man pulled her into a hug. "I'm so sorry…. I'm so sorry," he said soothingly.

Lily didn't know what was happening but she screamed. She stared at where her house had stood, now in ashes, and felt that her life was now over.

"Lily! Are you okay!? I saw the sign over your house." Lily recognized the voice. She looked up.

"Severus…"

"Lily, are you okay?" Severus said, taking her into his arms.

She pulled away from him. "Please leave me alone," she said, pulling away and settling on the ground crying.

Severus walked towards her. "Lily what can I do for you." He asked quietly.

"You can leave." She looked up at him, tears streaming down her face.

The man who was helping her asked him to leave. He put up a fight about it and Lily could hear the hurt and the worry in Severus' voice. She didn't care. She didn't want to see him; all she wanted to do was crawl under a bush and make it go away, but she couldn't.

She heard Severus finally leave. The man came and sat next to her again, not saying anything but just sitting quietly while she cried. She cried more than she ever thought she could cry.

After awhile, another man stood over her. Lily ignored him, refusing to look. "Lily, I'm Mr. Johnson. We need to figure out a place for you to go," he said.

Lily thought hard; she didn't think of that part. She had no one. No where to go, no one to love, she was homeless and had nothing. Her own sister whom she didn't get along with was back packing with a friend through France. Apart from her, Lily had no other family. She stopped crying and she backed away from the two men. "I have nothing…. I have nothing," she said almost to herself than to them.

The man who comforted her stood up. "Lily, stay here. I need to talk to Mr. Johnson. I am Matt Potter, by the way." The man stood and pointed at a taller man, heaver in weight. For the first time, Lily lifted her chin and took a good look at him. He was a very tall man, older in age with dark hair and brown eyes. He had a very calm and comforting feature about him.

Lily stared at him and nodded. "Okay," she whispered softly.

Mr. Potter walked over to the other man and Lily listened as the pair seemed to be in an argument. "I will take her home. She can live with us until she goes to Hogwarts," Mr. Potter said.

"I don't think that's a good idea," Mr. Johnson replied.

"Well, I'm not really asking for your opinion," Mr. Potter started to turn away when the man spoke more harshly, raising his voice just a little.

"Stop being stubborn! You have a wife and two boys living at your house. Do you realize that if you take her home that you are putting them in more danger than you all ready have? I don't know why Voldemort wants her, but he didn't come and kill her parents for nothing. We can put her as a helper in an orphanage. Don't be a fool!"

Mr. Potter's voice dropped as he grew angrier. "Mr. Johnson, I am not sure why Voldemort likes to go around killing people, but don't you realize we are in war? We are all in danger! No one is in more danger than the other! We must all work together to help each other!" Mr. Potter raised his voice. "Never, ever doubt my judgment. I would never put my family in more danger than they are already in! I think I can decide that for myself. Now excuse me; I think Lily is tired and probably in need of sleep."

Mr. Johnson talked more quietly now retaining his anger "I'm sorry, Matt. You know I think highly of you…."

"Thank you for the concern," Mr. Potter said putting a hand on his shoulder. "I will fill out the paper work tomorrow at the office. Right now, it is almost one. We have been out here for hours. If you want to be helpful, call my wife and tell her what happen. Tell her to have the boys in their room when I get home and have the guest room made up. I have to talk to Lily. Thanks, Greg. Oh and if you don't mind I need to Barrow a Ministry Car."

Mr. Potter turned away and walked back to Lily. "My wife and I would be very pleased if you would come stay with us for the rest of the summer until you go back to Hogwarts. Well…. We wont take no for an answer Lily."

Lily looked at him. That was really nice of him. She didn't know what to say but felt so close to him. She just stood up and gave him a hug. "Thank you," she mumbled.

The car ride to the Potter's was a long one. Lily really didn't know what to say; all she knew was that she wanted to cry but she just couldn't any more.

"So…. tell me about yourself. What do you like to do for fun? What's your favorite subject? What do you hate?"

"Well I love to read. I love Charms." Lily couldn't hold it in any longer. She had so many questions and she was so confused. "Why did this happen to them? What did they do? It's because of me, isn't it? They would still be alive if it wasn't for me, huh?" Lily looked out the window. This was all her fault.

Mr. Potter stopped the car and looked at Lily. "There is one thing you have to remember: this is not your fault. Never ever think that. When you start thinking that, Voldemort wins. That's exactly what he wants you to think. You are a powerful witch, Lily. I don't know why Voldemort did it, but he did. The only thing we can do is live on. He is evil and unhappy, he and wants you to feel sad, and of course you are. But, you can't let him win. You must keep living your life. Promise me that you will, Lily."

"I promise," she said softly but barely enough for him to hear. She was feeling so tired from what happened. A little way ahead, she saw a town. Mr. Potter drove through the dark streets until he finally slowed down and pulled into a garage. Lily climbed out of the car and walked to the door. She was welcome by whom she assumed to be Mrs. Potter. "Oh, you must be Lily."

"Lily, this is my wife. Lorie," Mr. Potter introduced, putting an arm around her waist.

"Hi, Lily. Do you need anything? Are you hungry? I'll go make you something to eat and some tea." Lily noticed that Mrs. Potter was a beautiful woman she had a little blonde bob haircut and bright, blue eyes. Her face looked so calm and very comforting like her husbands but also was older in age.

"I am okay," Lily responded. All she wanted to do was go to sleep.

"I think that Lily is pretty tired," Mr. Potter said, sounding tired himself.

"Well, I made up the guess room. I'll show you where it is. Oh and here our some Clothes and I'll wash what you are wearing." Mrs. Potter handed her what looked like basketball shorts and a t-shirt that obviously belong to one of their sons.

"Thank you."

Mr. Potter watched his wife lead Lily away before he retreated upstairs to find his sons. He knocked on his oldest son's door knowing he would find both of them talking quietly. Every time he came home late from an investigation, he could hear the boy's whispers in the room.

"Hi, Dad, what happened?" James, his younger son, asked.

"Well," he began tiredly, closing the door behind him, and sitting on the end of the bed. Robert sat at the desk while his youngest son, James, was settled on the other side of the bed with his legs crossed. "Voldemort killed a young girl's parents.'

"He needs to be stopped, Dad," James said, hitting the bed with his fist, which sprang right back up at him.

"Yes, he does. I agree with you but we can't stop him tonight."

"The poor girl…how old is she?" Robert asked.

"James' age, her name is Lily Evans."

"Lily? What is she going to do?" James asked confused and sympathetic.

"Well, that's really what we need to talk about. She has no family. She has an older sister that is in France with a friend but she can't take care of Lily. She has no where to go. They wanted to put her in one of those orphanages as a helper during the summer but I wouldn't let them." Mr. Potter paused. "I invited her to stay with us—for the summer until Hogwarts. Then we need to decide what to do. So, you guys need to behave your selves."

"Come on, Dad, you know us," Robert said with a smile to lighten up the mood.

"I do. Go to sleep tonight and you will see her in the morning. Make her feel at home and invite her to hang out with you and your friends."

"Of course I will," James agreed. He was always the one who would do anything that his father suggested. Mr. Potter was the one person that everyone looked up to, including James. He wished that someday that he could be as great as his father is.

Mr. Potter got up. "Good night, boys." He exited the room and closed the door behind him. James couldn't believe that this had happened. His parents were in so much danger everyday. Voldemort could attack at any moment if he wanted to.

"I ought to know her if she is in your year," Robert said to James while writing on a parchment on his desk.

"Yeah she is the redheaded Gryffindor prefect. She was friends with Snape."

"Oh, that's right. She seems really nice and, if I remember correctly, she does know how to stand up for herself."

"I asked her out once. She was busy…" James thought back to the time at the pond after their O.W.L.'s where in the midst of antagonizing Snape, he had asked her out.

Robert looked up and smiled at him knowingly. "Yeah, well don't worry. I'm sure she doesn't even remember." Robert stood up from the desk. "Hey, I'm really tired and I have been filling out these job applications all day. We will talk more tomorrow."

James got up from the bed, stretched and preceded to the door. "I'll see you tomorrow, then." He said, closing his brother's door behind him.